Fazel V.
English 107
Rhetoric Analysis- Snap Chat
Social media is, without a doubt, here to stay. It is logical that anyone would not be interested in a social media app where your messages disappear forever in 10 seconds. In her December 26, 2015 article for Pocket-lint entitled, “What’s the point of Snapchat and how does it work?” journalist Elyse Betters reviews and analyses the popular “disappearing” photo and video messaging mobile computer application Snapchat. My essay analyzes Betters’ review for her use of the rhetorical appeals in persuading her audience that Snapchat is interesting because it provides a simple way for people to tell stores
Betters creates effective intrinsic ethos in the manner in which she provides a thorough overview of Snapchat, its users, and its main uses as a social media platform. Betters further goes on to explains that the company was founded in 2011 by Bobby Murphy and Evan Spiegel originally as a video messaging service for people to send “naked pictures that would disappear” (Betters).This appeals to people’s emotion since it interests social media enthusiasts. Social media users love the anonymity that it provides, emphasizing on this anonymity is an ethical appeal.
Pathos is shown by the way teenagers and young adults took the opportune moment after snap chat was improvised. The two groups quickly caught on to the uses of Snapchat. While Snapchat’s popularity is now growing across of age groups, Betters explains that young users are still its largest market. Betters ends the article with a step-by-step introduction and explanation for Snapchats features and functionalities such as how to create a message, known as a “snap”; how to send, store and review a snap; and how to create a story for a number of snaps. Her organization of the essay and her presentation of the facts about Snapchat are unbiased, maintaining an academic tone, which appeals to pathos. As a journalist focused on the technology industry with a decade of experience covering such technology and Internet giants as Apple and Google, Betters’ pathos is based on her evident expertise and understanding of the many different types of technologies that the market is producing and that consumers are interested in using. She is quite comfortable writing about the technology that Snapchat incorporates and in explaining in “no-techie” what a reader needs to know about the app and especially how to use it. Furthermore, it is also quite clear form her writing that she has a deep personal knowledge to the app as well as insights from other users. Betters’ pathos is twofold. First, nowadays most people are involved or interested in social media. This point is illustrated in the significant numbers being reported about just how common social media participation is across the nation and the world. In essence, the majority of people that have a computer, tablet or smart phone or in some ways interested in social media. Accordingly, the idea that there is widely popular social media app that you may not be a user of plays on most people’s emotions, at least in terms of persuading people the read the article. Secondly, as a youth driven culture, we are always interested in understanding what kids are “into” and how knowing that will make us seem less boring and more hip. Betters’ article taps as well touches on the pathological appeal that is tapping into this emotion from the title (Betters). To be sure, anyone that is interested in social media and not yet on Snapchat would most likely consider reading the article just from the title.
Betters’ logos comes in at this point, it provides a good balance of understanding to the reader. However, perhaps what is most important to her credibility and appeal to logos is her use of a number of strong sources that strengthen her explanations and points of interest. She includes, for example, a number of imbedded videos from some to the top Snapchat users or commentator on a number of aspects of the app and its uses. These videos are extremely useful in supporting her claims and clarifying her instructions.
In terms of kairos, Betters’ article could not be timelier. Social media is “the new big thing” and everyone from presidential candidates to sports and movie stars to high school teachers are finding ways to use social media to connect with voters, fans, and students in ways that were unheard of five or ten years ago. In terms of logos, Snapchat is currently one of the leading social media platforms so understanding it will go a long way to understanding the power and uses of social media. Similar to her ethos appeal, Betters provides plenty of facts that seek to target a reader’s logos. For instance, Betters’ at one point in the article asks rhetorically: who uses Snapchat; to which she answers: everyone (Betters). She then goes on to ask: what are people using Snapchat for; to which the answer is: to tell stories (Betters). Stories that can be told, Betters argue, very simply. The clear meaning of her mention here being: if you are not using Snapchat to tell your stories; then you are missing out on something really interesting. She follows this up with, as mentioned as step-by-step tutorial of how simple it is to use Snapchat to tell a story. Indeed, if you actually follow Betters tutorial, you do discover how easy it is to use Snapchat.
In the end, Betters use of ethos, pathos, logos and Kairos was not only exceptionally informative in helping to understand some of the current trends in social media and why Snapchat is the current leading social media platform. Betters does this by establishing her credibility and strengthening this with video citations of experts in the field. She then concentrates on expression common emotional, logical and timely arguments on why Snapchat is popular and why the reader should start using Snapchat for themselves.
Although Betters begins her essay by asking what’s the point of Snapchat and its disappearing messages, it quickly becomes clear that she knows exactly what the point of Snapchat is and why the reader, and the world, should understand. While the temporary aspect of the app is still present, the service itself has evolved to become one of the most popular ways for people to tell and share their own stories.
Works Cited
Betters, Elyse. “What is the point of Snapchat and how does it work.” Pocket-lint. Pocket lint.com, 26 Dec. 2015. Retrieved 05 Feb. 2016. Web.
